Chronicles of coaching American football in Italy (2008, 2009 & 2018), in Sweden (2010, 2016 & 2017), in Switzerland (2012), winning a Division III National Championship in France (2012-13), in Spain (2015 & 2016) and in Mexico (2017) as well as walking the Camino de Santiago in August-September of 2010.

About Me

I have been married to Laurie for over 46 years. Our oldest son, Andy, lives in Las Vegas, Nevada with his wife Jenn and their son Kevin. Our youngest son Mike lives in Oxnard, California with his wife Vanessa and their kids Jacob and Mary. Although I retired from teaching in June of 2007, the 2015 football season marked my 45th year of coaching football at five high schools in Southern California's Ventura County - Thousand Oaks, Westlake, Rio Mesa, Buena and Newbury Park. In 2008, I opted to try something totally different in my coaching career and started coaching in Europe. My EuroBall stops have been in Catania, Sicily in 2008 & '09, Hässleholm, Sweden in 2010, Thun, Switzerland in 2012, Lyon, France in 2012-13 with the 12-0 National Champion Bron-Villeurbanne Falcons, Murcia, Spain in 2015, Rivas, Spain in 2016, Upplands-Väsby, Sweden in the Spring of 2016 & '17, in Mexico to coach the Europe Warriors in Aug. & Dec. 2017 and now in 2018 in Varese, Italy. Join me as I explore and chronicle my newest adventures coaching American football in Europe. My European touring also included a 500 mile Pilgrimage Walk on the Camino de Santiago in Spain in 2010.

Saturday, June 16, 2012

Peaceful Friday

SWISS FACT-OF-THE-DAY

Names, like everything else in Switzerland, are taken seriously. When you decide on your child's name, it has to be approved by the civil registrar. If it is deemed to harm the child's well-being or be offensive to a third party, you can't have it. There are few set rules but shocking, insulting or laughable names are forbidden.

Richard Head . . . NO!

Mary Chritmas . . . NO!

Give a boy a girls name and vice versa . . . NO!

Surnames as first names . . . NO!

How about Biblical bad boys Cain and Judas . . . NO!

Place names like Brooklyn or Paris . . . NO!

Brand names like Pepsi or Armani . . . NO!

So much for my all time favorite student name at Washington H.S. in Los Angeles from the Spring Semester of 1970, Pearl Harbor.

Meanwhile, back in Thun . . .

Always time for a Limone gelato

The usual stay at home duties on this good weather Friday, clean the house and do some laundry. While doing these chores, there was still plenty to do with planning our last Senior practice before playing the 0-8 Fribourg Cardinals on Sunday at home.

Our Senior practice Friday night was enthusiastic as always as we again stressed all phases of our pass offense and pass defense.

It appears that we will have our usual patchwork roster on Sunday as injuries and work commitments continue to force us to shuffle our player deck. Thank goodness for a bunch of Tigers who love football and are willing to play anywhere they are needed to help the team. Attitude is indeed a choice!

Our opponents for our last two games of the season are the Fribourg Cardinals as stated earlier. I have a soft spot for any team whose nickname is based on a local brewery, in this case Fribourg is the home of the Swiss Cardinal Beer Company.